Eddie Howe and must go all-out to sign their No 1 target amid competition from Manchester United after Isak burned his bridges
Newcastle United's Swedish striker #14 Alexander Isak reacts after a missed chance during the English Premier League football match between Newcastle United and Everton at St James' Park in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, north east England on May 25, 2025.
Newcastle's Alexander Isak has asked to consider his options this summer
(Image: ANDY BUCHANAN/AFP via Getty Images)
We were sitting among discarded coffee cups and fractured dreams discussing Newcastle United's latest fast-moving transfer efforts to solve a momentous centre-forward problem.
I was chewing the fat with a former United scout who has worked in the business at top level for many a season and still has excellent contacts within the game.
Would Benjamin Sesko come? And would that mean Alexander Isak leaving?
A member of the faithful like all of us, and fully aware of how these things work at the factory face, he insisted: "United cannot afford any more rejections. They cannot finish second in a two horse race yet again. They have to see off the opposition (Manchester United).
"And there's only one way to do that. If they want the player big time - and I think he is the perfect replacement - they must go back in prepared to pay over the odds if necessary. They must be proactive not reactive. They must convince Leipzig and Sesko of their intent by being aggressive. By blowing Man U away."
Within the blink of an eye United had lodged their second bid upping the ante from £68m to a staggering £78m with so much up front you could hear the groans of those delegated to transport the bounty on to the continent. A club record fee by a country mile. The biggest since, well, Isak.
However in a transfer that has more ups and downs than a pogo stick back came Man U to lodge their first bid. Like a bad smell they won't go away.
I never thought Geordie hopes would lie in the grasp of Elvis - Elvis Basanovic, Sesko's agent who is at the epicentre of the action. No Heartbreak Hotel again, thank you!
Benjamin Sesko celebrates a goal
Benjamin Sesko is a target for Newcastle(Image: Maja Hitij, Getty Images)
As for Alexander The Not So Great my scouting friend was almost dismissive: "Oh, he'll go if United get their top replacement. Isak has burned too many boats, especially with the fans."
Nothing is done until the ink has dried on the contract and the fat lady is in full voice but United have gone in all guns blazing and about time. Pussy-footing over other deals way back to Marc Guehi, Hugo Ekitike, and James Trafford got them exactly nowhere but in deep embarrassment.
Ahh, I bet Isak is distraught that his move to Liverpool could well be given the kiss of life. I bet he had been counting down the days to Newcastle's trophy-winning players saying a big hello again to their fans this weekend with a double-headed Spanish invasion of St James' Park. Wonder which date he preferred: Espanyol on Friday or Atletico Madrid Saturday.
He must have been dying to get some much-needed mileage into unused legs (unused apart from scuttling off on his own). Anxious to show his unwavering loyalty to those who have been loyal to him in their adulation.
No doubt Isak couldn't wait for United's Premier League opener against Aston Villa at the end of next week and was gurgling at the juicy prospect of the first league confrontation at the cathedral on the hill against, er, who is it again? Desperate for the transfer window to close on September 1 so those pesky agitators would stop trying to sell him when he doesn't want to go.
Oh I know. I know. I'm being sarcastic. But then Isak started all the nonsense so why not?
The thought of staying here and facing up to his controversial actions must have frightened him to death unlike the vast majority of PL defenders because he has sickened off Eddie Howe, sickened off the owners and, perhaps most important of all, sickened off the supporters. Not just sickened them all off but disrespected them too.
There was no bigger fan of Isak than me but, frankly, I'm sick to death of him and his behaviour. All right, he may want to leave which is his right but there is a way to go about it and what he's done is not the way.
I've got to admit that having criticised Isak I am not going to try and condone the way Yoane Wissa is trying to forced himself out of Brentford. He is doing exactly the same thing.
However if football has to live by the law of the jungle then I'll accept Wissa here because on the other side of the coin we look like losing Isak in the very same way. What goes round comes round in a world of kill or be killed.
May I amid all the transfer hoo-ha which has engulfed us - most of it fizzling out like a damp squib - say how much I would like Newcastle to clinch the signing of Guehi at long last.
Not just because we need a central defender and he plays for England but because we would be seeing off Liverpool and after the way they have unsettled first Anthony Gordon and now Isak, as well as pinching Ekitike, its long overdue for them to get one back.
Crystal Palace will definitely sell before the first of September because otherwise they receive nowt with Guehi on a free transfer in a year's time. We went up to £65m a year gone but this time would hope to get him for £40m.